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Sports Results That Leave Final Score Unclear

By

Carl Bialik

Updated June 8, 2012 7:51 p.m. ET

Governments around the world spend millions of dollars each year on campaigns to get their citizens off the couch and onto the sports field. Athletic-equipment makers and local authorities invest heavily in planning product lines or in building facilities. Yet such efforts are often hampered by the lack of one useful tool: a reliable way to tell how many people are taking part in sports.

In the U.S., statistics are compiled by two separate surveys, both funded by the private sector, which ask about different sets of sports...